Life Support

 Your rights as a patient

According to section 8 of the National Health Act of 2003, a health service may not be provided to a user without the user’s informed consent. Section 6 details that, if a user is capable of understanding they should be informed of their health status, treatment options and procedures,the degree of risks and likelihood of benefits, as well as their right to refuse treatment and the implications of refusal. If the user is not capable of understanding, they must be informed afterwards, if possible. Section 6 (1) (d) of the Act makes it clear that refusal is a legitimate choice and in that the user has the right to refuse health services.

According to the Act, a user is defined as ‘a person receiving treatment in a health establishment, including blood or blood products, or using a health services’. If this person is under the age of 12 (the age specified in the Children’s Act of 2005) then the user includes the person’s parent or guardian or another person authorised by law to act on the first-mentioned person’s behalf. 

If the user is unable to give informed consent, then this may be given by a person who is 

(i) mandated by the user in writing to grant consent on his or her behalf or 

(ii)  authorised to give such consent in terms of any law or court order. 

It is therefore extremely important that you mandate in writing a person that you trust to make healthcare decisions for you if you are not able to. A template for this can be found at our Resources page for patients (4.1)

It is also especially helpful if you have communicated your wishes in writing (i.e. a living will) so that there is evidence of what you would have wanted that can guide our mandated person/ loved ones in making decisions on your behalf. Ideally your written wishes should also be shared with your healthcare providers proactively. Templates for this are available to our members (who sign up for free) via our member’s portal(6).